November 15, 2016

Stanford researchers have designed a new type of computer that combines optical and electronic technology to solve combinatorial optimization problems, which are challenging for traditional computers, even for supercomputers.

An example is the “traveling salesman” problem, in which a salesman has to visit a specific set of cities, each only once, and return to the first city, taking the most efficient route possible. The… read more

November 13, 2016

University of California San Diego engineers have made the first semiconductor-free, optically controlled microelectronic device, using metamaterials, with a 1,000 % increase in conductivity when activated by low voltage and a low-power laser.

The discovery may lead to microelectronic devices that are faster and capable of handling more power, and to more efficient solar panels. The work was published Nov. 4 in Nature Communications (open access).… read more

May lead to a system to help rehabilitate people who have suffered spinal cord injuries

November 10, 2016

An international team of scientists has used a wireless “brain-spinal interface” to bypass spinal cord injuries in a pair of rhesus macaques, restoring nearly normal intentional walking movement to a temporarily paralyzed leg.

The finding could help in developing a similar system to rehabilitate humans who have had spinal cord injuries.

The system uses signals recorded from a pill-sized electrode array implanted in the motor cortex of the… read more

We may someday wake up someone from a persistent vegetative state by stimulating this network, the neurologists hope

November 10, 2016

An international team of neurologists led by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) has identified three specific regions of the brain that appear to be critical components of consciousness: one in the brainstem, involved in arousal; and two cortical regions involved in awareness.

To pinpoint the exact regions, the neurologists first analyzed 36 patients with brainstem lesions (injuries). They discovered that a specific small area of the brainstem —… read more

Could lead to future discoveries in basic biology, gene expression, RNA viruses, and disease

November 4, 2016

Northwestern University engineers have invented a tool to make a super-high-resolution representation of RNA folding as it is being synthesized. It could potentially lead to future discoveries in basic biology, gene expression, RNA viruses, and disease.

Made up of long chains of nucleotides, RNA is responsible for many tasks in the cellular environment, including making proteins, transporting amino acids, gene expression, and carrying messages between DNA and… read more

November 4, 2016

A team of researchers at MIT, the University of Brasilia, and the University of British Columbia has engineered an antimicrobial peptide to wipe out many types of bacteria, including some that are resistant to most antibiotics.

A recent study from a U.K. commission on antimicrobial resistance estimated that by 2050, antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections will kill 10 million people per year if no new drugs are developed.

Within this framework, spontaneous thought processes — including mind-wandering, creative thinking, and dreaming — arise when thoughts are relatively free from deliberate and automatic constraints. Mind-wandering is not… read more

November 3, 2016

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a “passive haptic learning” (PHL) system that teaches people Morse code within four hours, using a series of vibrations felt near the ear. Participants wearing Google Glass learned it without paying attention to the signals —they played games while feeling the taps and hearing the corresponding letters.

They were 94 percent accurate keying a sentence that included every letter… read more

The human CTGF protein is 87% similar in its amino acid building blocks to the zebrafish form

November 3, 2016

Duke University | Spinal Cord Injury and Regeneration in Zebrafish

Duke University scientists have found a protein that’s important for the ability of the freshwater zebrafish’s spinal cord to heal completely after being severed. Their study, published Nov. 4 in the journal Science, could generate new leads for what is a paralyzing and often fatal injury for humans.

November 2, 2016

MIT engineers have implanted spinach leaves with carbon nanotubes, resulting in a hybrid electronic system that they call “plant nanobionics” for detecting dangerous (and other) chemicals.

Two years ago, in the first demonstration of plant nanobionics, MIT engineer Michael Strano, PhD, used nanoparticles to enhance plants’ photosynthesis ability and turn them into sensors for nitric oxide, a pollutant produced by combustion.

November 1, 2016

A new theory on how the brain first learns basic math could alter approaches to identifying and teaching students with math-learning disabilities, according to Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers.

The widely accepted “sense of numbers” theory suggests people are born with a “sense of numbers,” an innate ability to recognize different quantities, and that this ability improves with age. Early math curricula and tools for diagnosing math-specific… read more

November 1, 2016

The team led by cardiology researcher Zhi-Ling Guo published evidence in Nature’s Scientific Reports (open access) to show how electroacupuncture remediates high blood pressure “by increasing the gene expression of enkephalin, one of three major opioid peptides produced by the body.”

November 1, 2016

Researchers have created a 3D-printed cosmic microwave background (CMB) — a map of the oldest light in the universe — and have provided the files for download.

The cosmic microwave background (CMB) is the “glow” that the universe had in the microwave range. It maps the oldest light in the universe and tells astronomers more about the early universe and the formation of structures within it, such as galaxies.… read more

October 31, 2016

MIT researchers have developed a method to determine the rationale for predictions by neural networks, which loosely mimic the human brain. Neural networks, such as Google’s Alpha Go program, use a process known as “deep learning” to look for patterns in training data.

An ongoing problem with neural networks is that they are “black boxes.” After training, a network may be very good at classifying data, but… read more